Praising Chand for embracing her sexuality openly, DeGeneres tweeted: "She's the 100m record holder and the first openly gay sportsperson in India. I guess she knows a thing or two about being first. I'm so proud of her."

For Chand, the Supreme Court verdict in September 2018 that decriminalised same-sex relationships between consenting adults provided the impetus for them to decide between spending their lives with each other.

"When the Supreme Court ruling came on Section 377, then we decided that there is no harm in spending our lives with each other. We decided that we will get married and have a small family for ourselves.

"She is from my town and a sports fan herself. She read about the struggles that I have gone through to make a career in sports and told me that she was inspired by my story. That is how we came in touch with each other," Chand said.

DeGeneres is currently hosting the sixteenth season of her celebrity comedy talk show The Ellen Show.